2016-01-15

The Wallflower - anime review

The Wallflower - also known as Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, in Japanese - is one of those feel-good anime series that exists in the same vein as wacky shows like Ouran High School Host Club. Weighing in at 25 episodes, The Wallflower follows four beautiful high school boys living in a rich woman's mansion and being tasked with turning her niece into a proper lady in exchange for free rent. But Sunako Nakahara is not ordinary girl - she often presents as a faceless 'chibi' character and enjoys all things horror, creepy, and grotesque. Sunako really has no idea how pretty she actually is and instead prefers to hide herself away in her darkened bedroom and watch horror films. Her best friends consist of skeleton props and an anatomical dummy named Hiroshi.

Our four bishounen heroes are reasonably put off and terrified of Sunako's antics, but nevertheless they set out to turn her into a real lady. Over the course of 25 episodes, our cast of characters find themselves in one sticky situation after another, but the bonding that occurs as each character learns to accept the others as they are becomes more and more apparent.

The lesson truly to be learned from The Wallflower is to accept and love the people in your life for who they are, while also encouraging them to be the best possible versions of themselves. In Sunako's case, that involves her male housemates accepting her love for all things spooky, even if they don't understand it.

Any potential love interest that arises in the show could be construed between Sunako and Kyohei, a lovely young man that girls are constantly fawning over. Unlike most guys though, Kyohei finds it to be a bother and wishes he wasn't attractive at all. Sunako and Kyohei are polar opposites and that's what makes the dynamic of their interactions really entertaining.

Overall I give The Wallflower a 9/10 rating, because it was enjoyable, presented some pretty oddball characters, and had a solid ending that didn't involve any radical changes. Would definitely recommend!